Month: December 2017

The big thing was that we decided to move back to the UK next year, specifically to North Oxford. Kathleen is looking forward to living in the city of Morse and Tolkien. John will continue teaching half-time for Fuller but online and via Skype. Here’s the theory.

*In January we put our house up for sale, we start looking for somewhere in Oxford, and Kathleen applies for immigration

*In February we accept an offer on our house, we go to look at houses in Oxford, and John’s successor at St. Barnabas Pasadena becomes rector

*In March we buy a house (or find somewhere to rent), Kathleen is granted immigration, and as a farewell event in Fuller the President interviews John and we eat ice cream.

*On April 1 John preaches his farewell sermon, on April 2 we send off our stuff, on April 3 we catch a plane, and on April 4 we move into our house.

As Gladys Knight said:

L.A. proved too much for the man,

so he’s leaving a life he’s come to know.

He’s said he’s going back to find what’s left of his world,

the world he left behind not so long ago.

He’s leaving on that midnight train to Georgia;

said he’s going back to a simpler place and time.

[Well, we’ll see about that.]

We’ve been reading the Christmas story backwards. How extraordinary that

*people met God when they met Jesus and that Isaiah helped Matthew see one of the factors behind it.
*Jesus was born in a one-horse town like Bethlehem, and that Micah helped Matthew see why.
*Jesus had to be whisked off to Egypt, and that Hosea helped Matthew make sense of it.

*Jesus’ birth led to those babies’ deaths, but how comforting that Jeremiah helped Matthew see that it fitted into a pattern.
* Jesus then grew up in another one-horse town, and how funny that Matthew notes how this also fits the prophets but doesn’t tell us how.

In other news, John has written another book, A Reader’s Guide to the Bible.